NOTE: The Blu-ray audio does
not contain tracks 9-10 (the 45rpm
bonus tracks on the CD reissue and SACD) as they were
not part of original LP. "The Girl from Ipanema" and
"Corcovado" (the 45 rpm issues) as the single
versions, and do not appear here.

Bitrate:

Description: The album Getz/Gilberto, recorded
in 1963, with American saxophonist Stan Getz, Brazilian
guitarist João Gilberto and his wife, Astrud Gilberto
(vocals), performing Antônio "Tom" Carlos Brasileiro de
Almeida Jobim's songs (Brazilian songwriter, composer,
arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist) was originally
released in March of 1964. The track "The Girl from
Ipanema" is one of the most recorded songs of all time (latin,
jazz or otherwise) and a defining standard in the Bossa-Nova
movement along with
Doralice,
Desafinado,
Corcovado
and
So Dance Samba - all found on this Blu-ray audio album.

The Album:

It (Getz/Gilberto) won the 1965 Grammy Awards for Best Album of
the Year, Best Jazz Instrumental Album - Individual or Group and Best
Engineered Album, Non-Classical. "The Girl from Ipanema" also won
the award for Record of the Year in 1965. This was the first time a jazz
album received Album of the Year. It was the last jazz album to win the
award until Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters 43 years
later, in 2008.

JazzTimes (11/94, pp. 88–89) - "...essential for all serious jazz
collections...served as proof that it is possible for music to be both
artistically and commercially successful...this relatively sparse
setting with the great Getz perfectly fit the music, resulting in a true
gem..." Vibe (12/99, p. 158) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential
Albums of the 20th Century. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked the album
number 447 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was
listed by Rolling Stone Brazil as one of the 100 best Brazilian
albums in history.

Adopters of
Blu-ray
immediately notice that lossless audio transfer is one of the most valuable benefits of this new
format. Not only surround separation but the depth,
resonance and overall purity exporting capabilities of the
lossless and uncompressed sound formats. DVDBeaver prefers
technical comparison as analysis.
Unfortunately, I don't know of a way of extracting the tech
info from this
SACD of Getz/Gilberto (one of four for this title
in existence!) to compare its merits to
this
Blu-ray
audio. So my review will rely on my ears! I have a system
with a
Marantz SA8001 Super Audio CD Player
and can toggle back and forth between my Oppo Digital BDP-83 Universal
Blu-ray/SACD
Player
trying to notice/listen to differences. There are,
definitely, a few.

Audio :

UME are using
the original master tapes transferred to uncompressed files, mastered at
24bit/96kHz. This elevates
Blu-ray
Audio discs to a new, more pure, level - hopefully the most accurate
replication of the original studio sound - when recorded. These can be
played with, or without, your video system being on (depending on your
set-up!).

This
Blu-ray audio is transferred at 2.0
channel. I was very excited about the options. You can choose from 3
selections: Linear PCM at a whopping 4608 kbps, DTS-HD Master at 3674
kbps or Dolby TrueHD at 3040 kbps. Keen ears will note
differences. I'll wager I've played it more than a dozen times and and
settled on the
Dolby TrueHD for the subtleties I noted in the lengthier Saxophone
sections. I found this incredibly impressive, but it's cool to be able
to change the option and sample another format (which one can do
on-the-fly from either the onscreen display - see image above - or
without your video display on - directly from the
Blu-ray
audio remote button.)

Does it sound superior to the SACD? Yes, the more I listen, the more it
became noticeable to my ears - in both the small areas (perception of
piano/drum brushes fidelity) as well as the larger ones (guitar chord
and sax depth). This album's beautiful sound really
transfers incredibly well via these uncompressed files. I warn you, this
is highly adddictive.

NOTE: The file size (under 4 Gig) suggest that this format can offer
multiple albums on one
Blu-ray disc. Perhaps an entire artist's
recorded work... and be able to play it for hours on end! I'd also like
to see the price come down. Let's see how this
Blu-ray audio format evolves.

My
Oppo
has identified
it as being a region FREE disc (like CDs) playable on
Blu-ray
machines worldwide.

Extras :

The only
supplement is a
12-page liner notes leaflet (Doug Ramsey notes and the original liner
notes by Gene Lees).

BOTTOM LINE:

Tough call -
owners of the SACD (same one I have) might not notice the benefit as I did. It
is probably more dependant on your system. We also lose the
two 45rmp additional tracks not present on this
Blu-ray. Then there is the, relative, high price. But to those without
SACD capability and a decent home theater audio set-up -
this is a huge upgrade from the convenience and portability
of puny digital audio files existing today (ex. mp3 - yuuuk!).
This absolutely blows away the old CD.

We all knew this was eventually coming to the audiophile market.
Individuals will want to take advantage of their, often
expensive, investment in their Home theatre systems by
giving this a whirl. I am thrilled to obtain my favorite
music in this new, totally uncompressed, format as it
continues to be released. Getz/Gilberto is an
essential and was an obvious choice in getting me to sample
Blu-ray Audio. Give it a try! - you may be as impressed as I am. Another
level of purity for serious music fans...

Gary Tooze

November 16th, 2013

About the Reviewer:
Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film
since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was
around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my
horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out
new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500
DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my
discussion Listserv for furthering my film
education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver.
Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our
Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction.